Prague - Eastern European leaders congratulated US
president-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday, but some allies appeared
cautious about America's shift to the left.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek invited Obama to Prague,
where Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a deal in July to
place part of a US missile defence radar in the ex-communist nation.
Obama's victory 'does not change relations' between Washington and
Prague, said Topolanek, a centre-right leader and one of President
George W Bush's strongest allies in the former Warsaw Pact area.
He seemed to add a note of caution about where the newly elected
Democrat will take the United States after his landslide win on a
soaring message of change.
'Barack Obama has raised many expectations in his election
campaign regarding solutions to domestic and world
problems,' Topolanek said in a statement.
'The whole world will now watch with suspense how he fulfills his
promises.'
NATO members Poland and Czech Republic this summer reached deals
with the Bush administration on hosting US bases for tracking a
ballistic missile attack, strengthening military ties with the US.
While the Pentagon says the shield will defend against threats by
'rogue states' like Iran, Russia has vehemently opposed the missile
shield as a threat to its nuclear missile deterrent. Many Poles and
Czechs also oppose the planned bases.
In Kosovo, where the ethnic Albanian majority declared
independence from Serbia in February with Bush administration
backing, President Fatmir Sejdiu congratulated Obama.
'The US election model showed how a popular vote can choose the
most important man in the world,' he said. 'We appreciate the role
the US had and will have for Kosovo.'
In Slovenia, the only former Yugoslav republic to join NATO and
the European Union, President Danilo Turk welcomed Obama as someone
he looks forward to working with.
'Facing the increasingly global challenges of the modern world
requires mutual understanding, trust and partnership,' said Turk, a
former UN official.
USA
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